Building Our Own: Why We Don’t Need To “Get In” To The Boys’ Club

This week, we hear from Samantha Patil , founder of Well Traveled Club, as she recounts her experiences as a woman in business and the obstacles she faced… often from other women.

You can’t make this up… “The travel industry is a bit of a boys club (as is often in tech) and I knew that from the beginning. What I didn’t realize is the top 20 travel companies in the WORLD are all founded by men with male CEOs (except trip.com out of China who has a female CEO)… this floored me. What is even more jarring about that is women account for 56% of leisure travelers & when it comes to family travel, make 85% of all travel decisions. We realized we really were solving a problem for women, but it’s not blatantly a “woman’s issue” and so a lot of times I don’t think investors really know how to categorize us and that can be challenging. We’re not a female-only platform, everyone is welcome. That said, almost 80% of our members are women. There have been times where there have been weird comments or instances from potential investors, or questions or comments that felt like they were more about my personality “too confident, not animated enough, too loud…” and less about my business and I’m just not sure that happens as much with the guys. One of the most frustrating things that happened to me was on a group call with a number of male and female founders (mostly male) hosted by two female VCs. At this point I’d already raised our first round of funding, was generating revenue, and our company was already much further along than most of the others (despite it being a travel company in a pandemic!). I asked a question to the group about balancing acquisition and retention… when one of the VC Partners (a woman) chimed in to tell me she thought I should be “a little less ambitious” I was floored. I really thought that wasn’t something we were telling women anymore. It stung because it came from another woman in a position of power. I just don’t think we’re saying the same thing to the guys… I don’t really hear about a lot of people telling male founders to be less ambitious? I want to build a travel company for those who are not being served by the current travel ecosystem, and those people are largely women and minorities whose experiences aren’t being seen or heard and who’s needs aren’t being met. A rising tide lifts all boats and so I spend a lot of time supporting other female founders. Generally speaking we see that women can sometimes be shy to share about their big wins and successes but that’s crazy, her success is my success and mine hers. Let’s build our own table together.” -Samantha Patil , Well Traveled Club??

Something I’ve learned as a woman in business (and, quite frankly, in the world), is that the most stinging insults can often come from other women. And yes, that sucks. And no, I don’t think that’s how it should be. But the truth is that men have pitted us against each other in such thick competition, for so long, that it doesn’t surprise me that many women feel like their only way into the “boys’ club” is to do what they do.?

The reason I started Female Founders Collective was to show every woman that there is another way. We don’t need to get into the boys’ club, because we can build our own. One built off of support, generosity, and evolution. Just like Samantha said, a rising tide lifts all boats. So let’s be a part of that tide.?